The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Poinsettia plant, botanically known as Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd., and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Estrella Red’.
The new Poinsettia is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Aalsmeer, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program was to develop new low temperature-tolerant Poinsettia cultivars with uniform plant habit and excellent postproduction longevity.
The new Poinsettia originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor on Jan. 15, 2000, of a proprietary selection of Poinsettia identified as code number 99005, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with a proprietary selection of Poinsettia identified as code number 99105-02, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The cultivar Estrella Red was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Aalsmeer, The Netherlands on Nov. 16, 2001.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal vegetative cuttings propagated in a controlled environment in Aalsmeer, The Netherlands since July, 2002, has shown that the unique features of this new Poinsettia are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.